After watching the documentary about Wild Carpathia in Romania, the most surprising discovery was the outstanding beauty of nature as well as its diversity. Transylvania is a land that has been riddled with mystery and myth; however, in reality, it is very beautiful and peaceful despite being the associated with stories about vampires.
What was particularly interesting is that the area is a rare example of almost pristine nature and forest life in the entire Europe, which means that Wild Carpathia has a great potential in being an example of ecological sustainability and the preservation of nature. This is much needed in the modern world that has been practicing deforestation and exhaustion of natural resources for decades. Discovering the purity and the beauty of Carpathian mountains was especially surprising because not much is usually reported about it, which is unfortunate given the fact that we need to know about such beautiful places on our planet.
The second surprising topic explored in the documentary was local farmers being very restricted by the European health standard regulations. It is understandable that farmers should comply with certain rules with regards to producing milk and cheese; however, so many of them do not have the resources to do so. Discovering this fact was particularly upsetting because so many large corporations that produce dairy products thrive by using harmful ingredients and polluting the environment when local farmers that make ethical and environmentally safe food are forced to shut down.
The documentary showed some fascinating shots of a brown bear family with young cubs. The territory of Wild Carpathia is currently home for almost a half of the entire Europe’s population of brown bears, which are vital for the sustainability of the ecosystem. Bears positively influence the regrowth of the forest by being on the top of the food chain and keeping the population of deer and wild boars under the necessary threshold; this means that other species can also live safely and reproduce. The fact that brown bears are predators that are vital for keeping other animals from grazing the forest of Carpathia was also an interesting discovery since bears are usually presented as sleepy and lazy animals that eat berries and look around for honey.
Overall, the documentary was very eye-opening in terms of depicting the wonders of nature that are not as popular as, for example, the Egyptian deserts or the Himalayan mountains.